Modern alternators face increasing demands for greater operational safety and an increasingly reduced risk of hazardous conditions that may result from electronic or other faults. For example, to ensure safety and preserve battery life, an alternator may maintain a charging voltage within an appropriate margin of the operational charging limit of the battery being charged. Electronic faults or other equipment failures, however, may result in the battery being charged at an undesirable voltage, such as one beyond the operational limit of the battery. Such charging conditions may limit the useful life of the battery or, worse, result in catastrophic failure, such as fires, explosions, and/or other safety hazards. Safety standards imposed on modern alternator control systems increasingly demand that the risk of such hazardous conditions be reduced and/or eliminated.